Photo by Eastlaketimes As has been the case for every Monday over the last X weeks, Greece is the financial headliner.  It was dragged kicking and screaming back to the negotiating table this weekend.  Little negotiation was had.  A deal was made… but not really.  Basically, Europe scolded Greece and everyone decided…

It is important to note that in this post I am pronouncing the word gyro as “yee-ro”.  This is critical because no one is allowed to pen commentary on the Greek situation (I almost typed ‘tragedy’) without at least a little halfhearted wordplay. The odds of a Grexit keep going up,…

When I was younger, my parents would tell me not to take any wooden nickels.  I always wondered what that meant.  Are there actual people out there trying to pass off wooden currency?  Would I really be tempted to accept this fake money?  What kind of monster is prowling the…

Just before the financial crisis, peak oil was a hot topic.  The theory was that demand for oil had permanently outstripped supply and that the commodity would only increase in value going forward as supplies dwindled.  Talking heads raced to plant the highest price target as it shot up to…

The silver lining in the European financial crisis is how the names of the various countries involved lend themselves so well to plays on words.  Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain were collectively PIIGS.  Greece has had the highest profile of all the PIIGS, but I’m not sure if that’s…